


JACKPOT

by LiliMane



Series: 7 Days of Words, Words, Words [3]
Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternative First Meeting, Both Boy Squads go to a Halloween Fair (separately though), Even the Internet Detective, Halloween, M/M, SkamFicWeek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 06:31:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11823150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiliMane/pseuds/LiliMane
Summary: ❁❁❁ SkamFicWeek | Day 3 - Alternative First Meeting ❁❁❁“And you can't even see yourself in that glass, because the light is so dim above it. So, it's like you don't have to face yourself. And once you don't have to do that, then you're more free to just say what you think. Like, talk, freely. Without inhibitions.”Isak is in his 2nd year at Nissen. Even is a 3rd year at Bakka. The only person who knows Isak's secret is Eskild. Or is it?





	JACKPOT

**Author's Note:**

> Well this turned out a bit longer than it was originally meant to be, but oh well. It's still one chapter though!
> 
>  
> 
> I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a Halloween Fair in Norway, or anywhere else for that matter, but I needed to create it for the sake of incorporating my idea of the mysterious booth. It's just like a regular Fair but with some more Halloween-themed attractions, like a Haunted House etc. (I'm pretty sure there are Haunted Houses at regular fairs or amusemt parks too). In this AU, the Halloween Fair is held once a year.
> 
> Even's Haloween costume looks basically like his God costume in 3x04, but without the wig and the beard but with a mask on. The masks they're wearing and which Even found on the Internet are modelled on traditional Japanese Masks called Kitsune which represents a fox (so Even is basically dressed as his own version of a fox). All of the Balloon Boys (including Even of course) are wearing identical masks.  
> It's the concept I had in my head while I was writing this, but you can imagine the masks to look totally differently of course. You can imagine them as creepy or funny, or clown masks or whatever you like. 
> 
> Hope you like it and let me know if you did!

 

**ISAK**

**19:19**

 

Isak looks at himself in his mirror and cringes. He's got his snapback and a loose t-shirt on. He's wearing tight black jeans and his favorite pair of sneakers. His outfit would be nothing out of the ordinary, if it wasn't for the pink tutu skirt three sizes too small hanging off his hips, that he's doing his best to cover up by his t-shirt that reaches below his hips. Ugh. Why does he always have to be so competitive and not think before he speaks? Why does he always have to go and get himself involved in stupid bets that mostly originate in Magnus' head? And, most importantly, why does he have to lose every bet he's a part of?

“Oooh, I see you're experimenting with the look, my baby gay.” Isak snaps his head to the right and sees Eskild leaning on the door, scanning Isak from head to toe with a raised brow and an amused smirk. “That's great. Maybe we're finally getting somewhere. Maybe soon you'll let me do that makeover we talked about it, huh?”

Isak rolls his eyes and looks at the ceiling. “Eskiild, we haven't talked about any makeover. You just got into your head that I want to try wearing glitter nail polish just because I complimented your nails one night. That doesn't mean I want to paint my nails, or my body, or face, or anything.”

“Calm down, don't be so defensive. I'm just saying, if you're willing, I'm available to help you experiment with different looks.” Eskild wiggles his eyebrows and sits on Isak's bed. “Soo. What's the story here?” He gestures at Isak. “Since I know you _probably_ wouldn't add this little detail hanging on your hips out of your own will.”

“Ugh, there's no story. There was a bet and I lost. Now I have to go dressed like that to that Halloween Fair we're going to.”

“Oh, you're going there? I'm jealous. I was there last year, but I have work tonight. Ah, youth is wasted on the young and work is wasted on me. Every night. Repeatedly.”

“Why are you saying we're wasting our youth or whatever? We're literally going out to have fun.”

“Okay, okay. So... Are you planning on having fun tonight?” Eskild looks at Isak's reflection in the mirror. Isak's reflection looks back at him. “I mean...actual fun? Like you'd like to have? With a...boy?”

“Ugh. Eskild. Just because I'm gay, like you, doesn't mean I want to meet guys for random hookups. Like you.”

Eskild raises his hands in the gesture of defeat. “I know, I know. But wouldn't it be nice to, like, be free to come up to a guy and at least talk to him? You know, without inhibitions? Or let him buy you a drink or whatever?”

There's a pause. Isak's looking at his skirt, holding the hem between his fingers.

“You know I'm not ready.” He mumbles.

“I know, baby Jesus.” Eskild walks up to him and puts his hand on Isak's shoulder in a comforting gesture. “And I think it's already very brave of you to put on something that's not considered, you know,” he makes air bunnies, “ _traditionally_ masculine. Even if it's for Halloween.”

“It's not like I'd like to wear stuff like this, if, you know,” Isak shrugs, still looking at the skirt, “everyone knew.”

“I know.” Eskild smiles and pats him on the head (or, more accurately, his snapback). “Have fun! And don't you pay any mind to any weird stares you might get tonight. There'll be plenty of people dressed way weirder than you there, trust me,” he says on his way out of Isak's room. Isak's heart fills with warmth and just a tiny bit of comfort, like every time he talks to Eskild. Eskild really is brave, isn't he. Funny how openly being yourself is considered brave sometimes. _I shouldn't have to be brave, though_ , Isak thinks. I _should be able to be myself like everyone else, and not get weird looks or be forced to stand obnoxious comments or live in fear of being beat up because of who I am._ Well, it's easy for him to think that way when he's standing in his room, but whenever he goes out to socialize, the paranoia of someone figuring out his sexuality just by looking at him takes over, and he always makes sure there's at least one girl hanging off of his shoulder. _What a coward I am._ But it's not like anyone who isn't in his shoes would understand just how frightening it sometimes feels to be, well, yourself, when it's not seen as the norm, or if it's seen as some sort of aberration, or, according to his mom's texts he's frequently receiving, a sin.

His phone buzzes and the usual wave of panic hits him.

**JONAS**

**19:36**

You ready? We're downstairs

 

 

**EVEN**

**19:19**

 

“We look weird.”

“We look like we're going to rob a convenience store.”

“We look like a weird traditional dance group.”

“We look awesome.”

“Awesome is exactly how we look like!” Even claps his hands and adjusts the mask on his face. “How can you think anything different than that is beyond me.”

“It's called a difference of opinion, Ev.” Adam huffs and flops on Even's bed. “Or, a difference in taste, in this case.”

“I don't get you guys, they're cool!” Mutta is overexcited and giddy as always. He's been trying to straighten his bow tie in front of the mirror for the last 5 minutes. He puts his mask on and takes one final look at himself. “I love it.”

“I agree. They're pretty cool, guys.” Mikael chimes in.

“Everything seems cool when you're high.” Adam sighs and looks pointedly at Mikael.

“Whatever. And I'm not that high. I just had, like, three puffs at my grandma's place.”

“I still can't believe you smoke with your granny, man.” Elias says.

Mikael winks. “It's all medicinal, baby.”

“Okay guys, we ready?” Even beams up and opens the camera app on his phone. “Get your masks on.” Adam and Elias grunt, but they do it nonetheless. “Fucking perfect.” He snaps a quick selfie with the guys, all in their masks. All of them are wearing black aside from Even, who's dressed in white. And Mutta, whose addition to the black jacket and black jeans is a red bowtie.

“Look at us. The best squad in the world.” Even can't contain his giddiness. A group Halloween outfit based on color synchronization has been his dream ever since they all got together during the first year at Bakka. He feels grateful for the guys for going along with it, even though he realizes not all of them are the biggest fans of the masks he'd picked up for them. He just had to do get them when he saw them on E-Bay, okay? They were one of the coolest things he'd seen and now they're all wearing them and they're going to that Halloween Fair they were meaning to go last year until something came up (that something being his depressive episode but he'd promised guys not to dwell on that and stop feeling guilty so he's doing his best to not think about it) and he couldn't be more overjoyed. And excited. Maybe a little too excited. But, whatever. He can get excited sometimes. Also, there's a big chance he might meet that special someone he's been thinking about for the last 2 months. I mean, there are hundreds of people at the fair each year, so the chances of meeting a particular person are both great and small. But Even's feeling lucky tonight.

“Are we going to make fools of ourselves tonight or not, guys? Let's go!” Elias claps his hands and gets up from the bed.

“We're not gonna make fools of ourselves. No one can see our faces.” Yousef deadpans.

“There are lots of different ways to make a fool of yourself, Yousef. They not necessarily involve showing your face. Besides, these masks aren't glued to our faces (thankfully).” Elias complains, but he's putting his shoes on with the mask still on his face.

“Off to make fools of ourselves, then!” Even shouts happily with a big smile on his face while the door closes behind them.

 

 

**ISAK**

**20:20**

 

“Fuck guys, this is awesome!” Magnus yells out, not paying attention to a few people turning back to look at him (and a few children as well). “There's the ferris wheel! And a carousel! Man, I've never seen one live, only in the movies.”

“Do you really want to go on the carousel, Mags? Out of _all_ the attractions here?” Mahdi asks, which is a bit ironic, since he's the only one out of the four of them who is stuffing his face with cotton candy.

Isak looks at the carousel, all lit up prettily, with big horses slowly moving up and down. He'd like to go on that. Hopefully, on a lap of his nonexistent boyfriend. But it's not like he can share that thought with anyone. Maybe Eskild, once he's back home.

“Yeah! I want to go on all the rides!!” Unlike Isak, Magnus doesn't seem to have a problem with sharing his thoughts.

“I don't think we have money for that. Let's just get some cheap thrills and then get hammered.” Jonas pats Isak on the shoulder.

Isak smiles and nods. “Yeah, just the four of us tonight. No girls.”

“No girls. Just us.” Jonas reassures him.

“The boys are here!!”

“God, Mags. You're like a child.” Mahdi's almost finished with his cotton candy.

The guys wander around a bit in search for the cheapest attractions. Magnus can't stop taking pictures which he keeps posting on his insta stories with captions like “Just the boys tonight!!!”, “BOYSQUAD”, “Boys just want to have fun!!!!!” and the like. Isak can't complain, really. When he's not feeling like he has to pretend he's interested in hooking up with girls, spending time with his friends is nothing less than pleasure. Especially since he's managed to cover up the skirt almost entirely after he had tied his jacket around his hips. Now, he basically looks like he has no costume on, contrary to the guys. Magnus is sporting a snapback, a shirt 2 sizes too small for him and a weird bushy mustache that makes him look like he's straight out of '80s porn (straight porn, of course, which is the type that Isak watches), Mahdi's wearing a giant afro and that's basically his whole costume (he must have worked so hard on it) and Jonas is wearing a curly fake gray beard and one of his dad's suits and has a name tag that says “Hi I'm Karl, would you like to talk about the weather?” on the right side of his chest. Once they've been to a haunted house, a fake shooting range, where Mahdi, Jonas and Isak managed to win themselves one teddy bear each and Magnus managed to win himself nothing, and a small fake mummy museum (“Man, why are the cheapest attraction the most boring?” “I wonder why is that, Mags”), they'd started aimlessly wandering around. At one point, Jonas stops them and they all stand in front of a relatively inconspicuously-looking room, similar to a photo booth but bigger, with left side of it painted red and the right side painted black, both having a separate set of small doors. On the top, in big neon-yellow letters, “CONFESSION ROOM” is written.

“What's that?” Magnus asks.

“I have no idea. Let's ask.” Jonas comes up to a girl, probably not much younger than them, who's sitting next to that “booth” and is scrolling through instagram on her phone. She's dressed in a white dress, has a blonde curly wig and is wearing a red lipstick. _She's probably Marilyn Monroe_ , Isak thinks, but he's not going to say it loud, because then the guys would know that Eskild enjoys making him watch her movies with him from time to time. “Excuse me, what's this attraction?”

The girl looks up at them, expression bored. “Uh, it the confession booth. One person goes in through the red door and the other through a black door to a room, separated by a glass. Neither of them can see each other.”

The guys are listening in silence. “They go in, can't see each other, and...? What do they do?” Mahdi asks.

The girl shrugs. “They talk, I guess. I mean, there's a list of topics on the walls of both rooms. And some jokes that you can tell the other person.”

“That's it? That's the whole attraction?”

The girl goes back to staring at her phone. “I guess. I mean, there are no cameras inside so you can do whatever you want, I guess. That's pretty much it.” There's a pause. “It's cheap though.” She shrugs.

The guys look at each other, except for Jonas, who's looking the left. Suddenly, he pushes Isak in, saying: “You should try, Isak! We're gonna find you a good partner!”

“Wh...what?” Isak doesn't manage to say another word, before he's pushed into a small room with only a chair inside, situated in front of a glass, through which he can see nothing but his own reflection. The room is dimly lit, so he can barely make out anything, even his face in the glass. There's silence around him and he feels like he's completely alone. _Talk about creepy_ , he thinks. _Ugh, I just hope they won't push any random girl inside, that would make this not only creepy, but super awkward and forced_ (like most his conversations with girls). Who else they would push in, then, if not a girl or one of the guys?

Suddenly, he hears the door to the other room opening and closing. Somebody is stumbling through the small room opposite of him, then trips the chair over, puts it back on its place and sits down.

“Hello?” A very _deep_ voice comes out of the person sitting across from him. Okay, that's not a girl. And none of the guys. The guy stting opposite him chuckles. “Fuck, my voice sounds even deeper inhere than it usually does. I sound like Christopher Lee or something.”

_Oh, great, and it's a weirdo, too._

 

 

**YOUSEF, MUTTA, ADAM, MIKAEL**

**20:56**

 

“I heard about it. You go into one room, and another person goes in to the other. Then you talk about stuff and never see each other again.” Mutta says, spitting popcorn at them.

“Kinky.” Mikael comments with no emotion in his voice.

“I don't find anything interesting about that concept. And which one of us would go in? And who's the other person who would go in? We can't ask a random stranger.” Adam says.

“Look at those guys over by the booth. See that blonde one?” Mutta points fingers at the four boys gathered in front of the booth.

“Yeah... What about them? You think they're going in?”

“Oh, shit.” Yousef's eyes widen and then he breaks into a smile. “That's the guy Even's been stalking on Insta!”

“What?”

“The guy, Mutta, you saw him right? You showed me that video of that guy he was watching! The one who can't rap, remember?”

“What? Oh, shit. That _is_ him. I think.”

“It's totally him??”

“What are you talking about?” Adam struggles to comprehend the discussion that's taking place in front of him.

“You know Even's been pining over someone during the last month or something, right? _That's_ the guy!”

“A guy? Isn't Even straight?”

“Apparently not, because I'm pretty sure _that's_ a guy. And you don't stalk someone so intensely if you're interested in them only platonically.” Mikael deadpans.

“What the...? What are the odds of us meeting him? And here, of all places?” Adam is still confused.

“Fuck, guys. I'm so excited for Even. We're totally doing this.” Mutta is almost jumping in place, spilling the popcorn around him.

“What are we doing?” The feeling of confusion is definitely not leaving Adam soon.

“See that guy, with curly black hair?” Yousef points to Jonas.

“There are two guys with curly black hair.”

“The one in the suit.”

“He's totally looking our way. We just have to, like, grab his attention and communicate with him, non-verbally.” Yousef has this all figured out, apparently.

“Okay...” Adam's confusion has turned into skepticism.

“Let's wave! Let's wave our arms!” Mutta's already waving, popcorn long forgotten and on the ground.

“What the hell, man? That's a waste.” Mikael furrows his brows.

“God, Mutta, don't embarrass us.”

“We literally have masks on.”

Mutta's plan has worked, apparently, since Jonas looks over at them and raises his eyebrows. The guys look at Jonas and start pointing to Even and Elias, who are standing at the shooting range, a little to the back from from them, both determined to win every possible prize and having a little friendly competition between themselves.

Jonas seemingly understands their hectic attempts at communicating that they would like _their_ friend to walk into the booth with _his_ friend (both Mutta and Yousef are fervently pointing to Even, then to Isak), because he nods and gently pushes his friend inside the booth. The guys start cheering and giving Jonas thumbs up, until Adam walks up to Even and promptly grabs Even's arm and walks him to the booth.

“Get in.” The sight of Adam talking like this to Even in a serious voice muffled by the mask could be interpreted as both disturbing and comical at the same time.

Even scoffs. “What? What's inside?”

“A surprise.”

 

 

**EVEN**

**21:21**

 

“Who?”

Fuck. Even knows this voice. He totally does. Know. This. Voice. _It can't be, though, right?_

“Don't tell me you don't know who Christopher Lee is.”

“I...know. Of course I know. He's Dracula.”

_Fuck, it's him. It's totally him. No, I have to make sure._

“Wow. An actor with a great range is who he is, or was, rather, and you're bringing him down to a vampire?”

“Well, it's Halloween. Seems fitting.”

“Okay then. I guess you're right.” There's a pause. “Let's have a moment of silence in his honor.”

_Because I need to collect myself and stop my voice from shaking so much._

“What.”

“What? I'm still not over him not actually being, you know, immortal.”

Isak rolls his eyes.

“You could have just said 'dead'.”

“Wow. WOW.”

“Okay, okay. A moment of silence.”

They sit there in silence, Even bursts out laughing.

“What? I was actually taking this shit seriously!”

“No, I'm sorry, I just...” Even's trying to collect himself. “I just saw this joke hanging on one of the paper clips on the wall here.”

“What joke?”

“It's _so_ bad.”

“Come on. Tell it to me.”

“I'm just gonna read it. Okay. Here it goes.”

“Hm.”

“What's the best way to spill some tea?”

“What.”

“Through a jackpot.”

There's another moment of silence between them, until Isak scoffs,

“What??”

“Yeah, exactly.” Even has tears in his eyes from laughter by now.

“Oh God. I'm pissing.” Even is rubbing his eyes and hears a giggle in the other room.

_My new favorite sound._

“I think people are meant to laugh at how bad it is, instead at the joke itself.” Isak says.

“Yup. It works, though. I think it's also here to like, help people break the ice. Which I guess also worked, right?”

“Yeah, I guess it did.”

“I think this whole booth is like, a psychological trick like those kinds of jokes are.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, you can't see the person you're talking to. So you're already inhibited from making some assumptions about them that you would normally make once you'd see them, right?”

“...Yeah, I guess.”

“And you can't even see yourself in that glass, because the light is so dim above it. So, it's like you don't have to face yourself. And once you don't have to do _that_ , then you're more free to just say what you think. Like, talk, freely. Without inhibitions.”

“Hm.”

“So, like, the inhibitions that were put on us at the beginning, like not seeing ourselves or the other person, in the end made us more open to speak our minds. They've made us more free.”

”I think you're over thinking this.”

“No! I'm just saying what's on my mind. That trick is working on me.”

A pause.

“You should also say what you think. I mean, we can't see each other, and once we're out of here we won't ever see each other again. And what's the probability of us finding each other in the sea of all those people?”

The thought makes Even's stomach squirm with sadness.

“I mean, all the people gathered here during the fair.” He adds.

Even feels like he just stabbed himself in the heart. What _is_ the possibility of them running into each other again like this? He doesn't want to wait a year for another fair. He doesn't want to go back to pathetically stalking his crush on the Internet until he's forced to stop because Isak finally finds himself a girlfriend. He doesn't wan-

“I'm gay.” A quiet voice comes out of the room opposite him. The silence falls between them again. Even is dumbfounded ans speechless. All the thoughts that were running through his brain have been silenced with those two words. Even's heart breaks again, as the level of vulnerability and despair in Isak's voice hits him. You can hear everything in that voice that was just spoken. The guilt, the self-hatred, the confusion, the _loneliness_. _You're so lonely, aren't you. You think you can't open up like that to people, do you. You need darkness, and a glass in front of you in which you can't see your own reflection, and a stranger._

Isak is the one to break the heavy silence.

“Phew, that felt good.”

There's a small chuckle coming from his room, then a pause, and then finally, the sound of Isak getting up from the chair and opening the door.

The door closes behind Isak and Even is left alone in the booth. He sits there for a few long minutes, until he thinks, _thank you._

 

 

**ISAK**

**21:46**

 

“I don't feel like walking around anymore. I think I'm going to call it a night.” Isak says, after wandering aimlessly with the guys, looking at the attractions they can't be a part of because they have no money left.

“Going home sober? On a _weekend_? I thought better of you, bro.” Mahdi says.

Isak just raises his eyebrows and starts walking away. Jonas is quick to catch up to him.

“Is something wrong? You said the booth thing was fine.”

“It _was_ fine. I'm just tired.”

Jonas shrugs. “I can walk you home. I'm pretty tired myself.”

“Didn't you want to get hammered?” Isak smiles weakly.

“Nah, I don't feel like it anymore.”

“Okay then.” Isak agrees.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, let's get back together.”

“Okay, but wait a minute. I gotta take a piss first.” Jonas speedwalks to the toilets and lines himself up in the queue of 5 people.

Isak looks around, in search of Mahdi and Magnus. His phone buzzes in his pocket.

**MAGNUS**

**21:56**

We're gonna walk around a bit more.

Mahdi's making out with Marilyn Monroe by the confession booth ;)

 

Isak smiles to himself. Who knew Magnus knew who Marilyn Monroe was? Maybe he _does_ underestimate his friends sometimes, just as Eskild says.

Before he manages to put his phone back in his pocket again, somebody bumps into him and the phone falls from his hands on the ground. “Shit.” Isak crouches and starts looking for the phone, which is pretty damn hard, considering the ground is almost pitch black where he stands, away from the fair and its lights that are much more dim by now, since a lot of attractions have been closed.

“Ah! There it is.” Isak looks up and sees a guy with the bluest eyes he's ever seen and sweaty blonde hair sticking to his forehead, with Isak's phone in one hand and a weird white mask in the other. “Sorry. But here you go! Good thing we've managed to find it.” The guy beams at him and his eyes crinkle when he smiles as he hands him the phone. _I know this voice_ , Isak thinks.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading :)
> 
> PS. Can anyone guess who was Jonas dressed as?


End file.
